Saturday, December 02, 2006

It's All In The Game

Anyone who knows me will know I am a keen game player. I've always liked strategy games such as the Civilization series and the Age of Empires series, as well as role-playing games such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. One of my all-time favourites is Diablo II, as I love the hack-and-slash RPG style of it.

Considering my back catalogue of games it seems bizarre that up until last week I had never played World of Warcraft. "How can this be?" I hear you cry. Well, to be honest, I don't know quite how either. I think it might have been because I didn't think I had the time to spend on playing it. Perhaps the reputation the game has as a life-sucking addictive hit that keeps you locked in front of your computer for months at a time kept me away. Whatever the reason for my absence, I'm certainly making up for it now.

This game is incredible! It takes all the things I loved about Diablo II, brings the wonderful fantasy setting and history from the Warcraft series, kicks it all up a gear with beautiful graphics, an equally beautiful soundtrack, before grabbing you by the throat with some of the most incredibly engaging pick-up-and-play gameplay I've ever seen. It can be as casual or as involved as you need, as easy or as difficult as you want. It truly is a phenomena, fully deserving the ratings is has received over the past year.

Unfortunately, I was right about not having enough time to play it. Time is at a premium at the moment because of various reasons which I won't go into here. But when I do have time to play, I've found wandering around the Dark Elf forests very relaxing. Being so immersed in a fantasy world really helps to relieve the pressures of real life. I can understand why virtual worlds such as Second Life are so popular. Every now and then we need to escape to somewhere less dangerous than the real world.